Why do some people get under our skin? Something they do or say pushes our hot buttons. Annoyance doesn’t foster productive negotiation, of course, but it’s not our fault that they’re getting on our nerves. Or is it?

Psychologists caution that when we have strong visceral reactions to other people, we should examine our own feelings and attitudes, not just theirs. If we’re honest with ourselves, we may recognize in other people’s behavior the dark side of our own nature.

Imagine that you have to negotiate with someone who seems belligerent. Deep down, you may actually be recoiling from personal feelings you’d prefer to deny.

To suppress our own angry impulses, it’s psychologically convenient to project negative emotions onto other people. If you bristle, suspicious that I haven’t been completely forthright, it might be because you’ve been tempted to be less than trustworthy yourself.

When someone is driving you nuts, Gray recommends that you turn the emotional tables: imagine what might prompt you to behave like him or her. Underneath outward belligerence, you may find anxiety or defensiveness. You may also locate your own internal nemesis, especially if the bargaining stakes are high. As Robert Burton wrote almost four centuries ago, “Every man hath a good and a bad angel attending on him in particular, all his life long.”

Projection is a two-way street, of course. Surely you can recall a time when someone made accusations and assumptions that didn’t seem to have anything to do with you. Gray counsels putting on an “emotional flak jacket” to deflect other people’s misplaced anger, though she acknowledges that this can be challenging. Taking responsibility for own complicated feelings doesn’t mean that we have to accept other people’s misattributions.

Related Article:Dealmaking – The Deal is Done Now What? – Business contracts and negotiation: Signing a contract is often only the beginning of the negotiations between two negotiating parties. How do you make a relationship viable and the contract’s stipulations workable in a real-world business scenario? Often what’s decided during rounds of intense business negotiations breaks down when thrust into the real world of business. Sustaining a successful agreement and building a relationship are keys to making a successfully negotiated agreement but the negotiation skills and negotiation techniques involved in negotiating long-term business relationships often differ somewhat from those skills and techniques negotiators use at the bargaining table. In this article, negotiation insights from the Program on Negotiation’s (PON) Negotiation Briefings newsletter are offered as well as some recent findings from negotiation research. Negotiators embarking upon a new venture with a business partner or those looking to start such a relationship will benefit from the negotiation tips found in this article.

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Preparing for Negotiation

Understanding how to arrange the meeting space is a key aspect of preparing for negotiation. In this video, Professor Guhan Subramanian discusses a real world example of how seating arrangements can influence a negotiator’s success. This discussion was held at the 3 day executive education workshop for senior executives at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.

Guhan Subramanian is the Professor of Law and Business at the Harvard Law School and Professor of Business Law at the Harvard Business School.